U.N. vows transparency on Sri Lanka abuses

The three-person panel of experts on Sri Lanka appointed in 2010 to look
into possible war crimes during the decades-long conflict with Tamil
secessionists submitted its findings to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on
Tuesday. That report should include the attacks on the news media that have
become a reality for journalists working there.

In New York,
Ban's
office promised to publish the report after he shared it with the Sri
Lankan government. Amnesty
International said, as the report was released, that "the panel's work on
accountability issues in Sri Lanka should mark the beginning, not the end, of a
process of accounting for violations"--a call that seems appropriate given the Sri
Lankan government's resistance to taking a deep look into the abuses that
occurred over so many years.

Centering on the concerns of journalists and the broader
issues of media freedom, CPJ has stayed out of the larger battle around what
happened in the final years of Sri
Lanka's national trauma. Our focus has been on
dealing with the total impunity with which journalists on both sides of the conflict
have been killed, abducted, beaten, and harassed. Over the years, we have often
called
on the U.N. and Colombo's
diplomatic corps to press the government on the abuse being heaped on the
country's journalists.

Many diplomats with whom we have worked over the years have done
just that, sometimes publicly, sometimes quietly, to press for protection of
journalists. We expect that to continue to happen as the targeting of
journalists continues. Because pressure on the government has had little effect
in addressing the problems raining down on journalists, organizations like CPJ
have looked increasingly to the international community to raise the issues.

It now falls to the United Nations to speak out openly
and forcefully, based on the findings of the commission it appointed almost two
years ago. The Sri Lankan government has already complained about outside
interference in its internal affairs, but with no prosecutions in the attacks
on journalists and media houses (see CPJ's Impunity Index) and the context
of the violence that had engulfed the country for so many years, there is
justification for a closer international involvement.

Bob Dietz, coordinator of CPJ’s Asia Program, has reported across the continent for news outlets such as CNN and Asiaweek. He has led numerous CPJ missions, including ones to Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Follow him on Twitter @cpjasia and Facebook @ CPJ Asia Desk.

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